In late April 2015, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman, announced an ambitious and ground breaking
programme to develop the Kingdom's economy and society over the
next fifteen years. How the programme will be implemented together
with the immediate five year plan set out in the National
Transformation Plan 2020 will be of key interest to businesses
operating in the Kingdom. In this article, we examine the main
likely employment implications of Vision 2030 and the introduction
of 'weighted Nitiqat.'
Context
With the Ministry of Labour estimating that each year 250,000
new graduates enter the job market in KSA, the creation of
employment opportunities is a social and economic imperative.
Vision 2030 seeks to reduce the overall unemployment rate from 11.6
% to 7%, overhaul the education system and increase the female
participation rate from 22% of the workforce to 30%.
Remittances by foreign workers is also high with a plan to increase
in
